Westerville residents will embrace their “inner elf” when the Westerville Central High School Theatre Department presents their production of Elf the Musical Jr., an uplifting musical about one boy’s quest to find his true identity. The story encourages each of us to approach each day with goodwill, wonder and cheer.
Central Theatre will present Elf the Musical Jr. at 3:00 p.m. on December 8, 14 and 15, in the Warhawk Performing Arts Center at Westerville Central High School, which is located at 7118 Mount Royal Avenue. Tickets cost $10, and are available at www.wchstheatre.net.
Elf the Musical Jr. is based on the 2003 New Line Cinema hit and features songs by Tony Award nominees Matthew Sklar (The Wedding Singer) and Chad Beguelin (Disney’s Aladdin On Broadway, The Wedding Singer), a book by Tony Award winners Thomas Meehan (Annie, The Producers, Hairspray) and Bob Martin (The Drowsy Chaperone).
The musical tells the story of a young orphan who mistakenly crawls into Santa’s bag of gifts and is transported to the North Pole. The would-be elf is given the name Buddy (senior Frank Schulze) and raised by elves in the North Pole. Buddy lives happily, unaware that he is actually a human, until his enormous size and poor toy-making abilities cause him to face the truth. With Santa’s (freshman Ben Wright) permission, Buddy embarks on a journey to New York City to find his birth father (senior Brandon Wuebker) and discover his true identity. Faced with the harsh reality that his father is on the naughty list, and his stepbrother (sophomore Aaron Dick) doesn’t even believe in Santa, Buddy is determined to win over his new family and help New York remember the true meaning of the holidays.
This show is great for families with young children as its run time is about an hour and fifteen minutes. Plan to stay for the Christmas party with Buddy and Santa after the show! For more information, please call 614/797-6800, ext. 8539.
Stephanie Matushoneck directs, Cindy Straub is choreographer, Peter Gooch is vocal music director, Kelly Conkel is technical director and Jacob Gooch handles lighting design. Assistant director is junior Ethan Zink and stage manager is senior Alyssa Conley.
Elf the Musical Jr. is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. Learn more at www.MTISHOWS.com.